Season Finale

Our final skijor of the 2021/2022 season with a beautiful ride from the top of Buffalo Pass.

1315.4 miles for the season - great job young Jack & Rudy!!!!!

So nice at the top of Buffalo Pass. Yes, this was June 5th with over 5 feet
of snowpack still atop the pass!

Buffalo Pass is always the last pass to have significant snow in Colorado. It is often the location of our last (and sometimes first) skijor of every season. Today was that, a final run up & down Buff Pass to end the season with an impressive 1315.4 miles traveled. 

Once at the top of the pass, we took an opportunity to spread some of Zorro's ashes. Zorro and his love for skijoring and passion for snow is how we discovered Buffalo Pass years ago. Our wonderful mentor and great buddy will appreciated part of him living atop Buff Pass for years to come!

Zorro's ashes coming off my right hand and Jack & Rudy watch the
ashes drift away in the breeze. Miss you Z!!!

Along with great snowpack atop the pass, we also had great stretches of open terrain on the trails near the top. Time to zoom!

Whee we go along an open straightaway near the top of Buff Pass.

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photos. Yes, the camera (and, thus, me) are bouncing around quite a bit on the choppy terrain. But, it's skijoring in June! You can't beat that.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, so, why the last run of the season? Well, it's getting harder & harder to reach this snowpack atop the pass with fast melting happening in every direction. We had to climb over 700-800 feet in elevation before the conditions got as nice as you see above. On the approach (up & down), it was soft, melting and slushy:

Soft slush coming up from Jack & Rudy's feet.
All the white dots against the trees are balls of slush flying off the kids too!

Of course, with warm June temperatures, we had lots of snow angels from the kids to cool off! It was in the 40s! Jack & Rudy were melting! :)

Rub-a-dub-dub demonstrates the snow rolling goofballs.

Time to celebrate the end of a bittersweet albeit very fun & successful 2021/2022 season. The great success was Jack & Rudy surpassing 1300 miles of skijoring (and having their third straight season with over 1200 miles). The bittersweet sorrow was losing our super fun elder and original skijor mentor,  Zorro,  on  May 20, 2022.  We sure miss you Zorro!

"Z would really have appreciated this June 5th on snow!" declares
happy Jack & Rudy.,

The tally from yesterday's last run of the season: 9.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

Final 2021/2022 Season Totals: 158 days on the trails covering 1315.4 miles with a top speed of 27 MPH and 123,300 feet of elevation climbed.